Wcvottb to politics, literature, Agriculture, StUmt, illoralitu, aui aural jTntclligcucc.
VOL 18.
STROUDSBURGr, MONROE COUNTY, PA. JULY 21, 1359.
NO. 2.
Published ' by Theodore ScItOCll. ' tensive farmer, who grew many thous-
. TERMSTWO dollars per annum in advance-Two ' ands f bushels near Leavenworth, afl
ilolhirs and a quarter, half yearly and if not paid be i sured 030 that the OOSt of Lis Com. crib
fore the end of the year, Two dollars and a half. . , . ,, . . . . ,
io papers uisconunncd until all arrearages are paiu,
except at Hie ontion of the Editor.
ID Advertisements of one square (ten line?) or less,
one or three insertions, $1 00. Each additional inser
lion, 25 cents. Longer ones m proportion.
JOB imZNTlNG.
Itavinj a general assortment of large, plain and or
namental Type, c are prepared to execute every de
fecription of
Cards, Circulars, Hill Heads, Notes, Blank Receipts,
Justices. Legal and other Wanks, Pamphlet!!. &c, prin
ted with neatness and despatch, on roasoiirtble terms
at this office.
J. Q. DUCKWORTH.
JOHN II AYR.
To Country Dealers.
DUCKWORTH & HAYN,
AVHOLKSALE DEALERS IN
Groceries, Pl'OVisiollSj LiqU0rs&fr
No. 80 Dey street, New York
June 1G, 1S59. iy
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
. . v.
Summing; up on Kansas.
Manhattan, May 26, 1S59.
I like Kansas that is natural Kansas
better than I had expected to. The
soil is richer and deeper; the timber is
more generally diffused; the country
more rolling than I had .supposed them.
There are of course heavy drawbacks in
remoteness from the seaboard, heavy
charges for bulky goods, low prices for
produce, Indian reserves, and the high
price of good lumber. For instance, pine
board used in building at this place come
from Allegheny County, N. Y., and were
rafted down some mill stream to the i
leghany, thence down the Alleghany to
". . . .
Pittsburgh, and the Ohio to Cairo, taken
up the Mi-sonri to Kansas City, and the
Kansas to this place, which has tut twice
or thrice been reached by a steamboat.
When here tl:ey were dog cheap at SI 00
per thousand supcficial feet, or ten cents
for every square foot. In the absence
of steambost navigation on the Kansas,
they must here be richly worth 8125 per
thousand feet. And, while there is pret
ty good timber here for other purposes.
there is little and that mainlv black
walnut that will rua
, j i ;
ke good boards
The ready Cottonwood along the banks
of the streams cuts easily, tut warps so
when sessoued that it will draw the nails
out of the side of a house; Elm is of
equally pervere; and I have seen few in
digenous boards that were not either
Black Walnut or Oak. But much of the
Oak is small, short and gnarly; while the
Black Walnut is likely to be exhausted.
I see young oucs coming up thickly in
some of the river bottom.-; but these have
much to contend with, and will not at
best be large enough to saw for many
years. No doubt, the timber of Kansas'
increases each year, and will increase
rlill fa.-ter as roadi aud improvements
arc multiplied, limiting the sweep of the
prairie-fire.-; but it will always cost more
lo build a deceut house of wood in the in
terior of Kansas than in part of New
York or New England I thiuk twice us
much. This is a heavy tax on a new
country, where not only houses but barns
arc a geueral, primary aud preying need.
I rejoice to see the new timber crcepiug
up the blufis of the rtreams; I note with
pleasure that much of this is Hickory
and some of it White Aeh; I doubt not
(hat there will always be would enough
here for fencing and fuel; but if Pike's
Peak regiou can send a good lot of pine
lumber (even Yellow Pine) down the
Platte and the Arkansas, it will be worth
more to Kansas than all her gold.
I consider Kansas well watered no
Prairie- State better. I do not confiue
this remark to the present, when every
thing i flooded, aud likelj- to be more so.
1 mean that springs, streams. crccKS, riv
ers, are quite universal. For my own
private drinking, I should like a supply
not so aiuch impregnated with lime; but,
for limestone water this is generally quite
good.
And
the limestone itself is among
ft,e
chief blessings of Kansas
I presume it
.nil t iioro
underlies every foot of her soil I have
yet traversed, with nearly every square
mile that will be comprised within the
State of Kansas. You see it cropping
out from almost every bluff; it lies thick-
ly strewn in boulders over the surface of
every headland or promontory that rnases
out into the bottoms, low prairies, or ra
vines: so that if vou want to use it. it is
always to be drawn (or rolled) down bill.
Though not here needed as a fertilizer, it
can everywhere be quarried with little
labor into building-Etone, or burned for
use in putting up chimneys and plastering
walls. Though somewhat decomposed
(I presume, by the action of water upon
it through thousands of yeare) and read
ily cleaving into blocks of suitable size
for house-walls, it i3 said to harden by
exposure to the atmosphere, and make a
very durable wall. It is the constant
though unobserved decomposition of this
Btono that has contributed so largely to
tho 'fertility of this soil, and now coun
tcrvaild the enormous waste through the j made myself comfortable with a fence a
rivers. I presume all the guana import- J round at least eighty acres, a quarter of
cd into our country does not equa.1 in fer- , that partitioned off for my working cattle,
tilizing value the annual outflow from the a decent warm shelter to cover them in
Kansas River alone. j cold or stormy weather, a tolerable bab-
I judge that Indian Corn can be grown ; itation for my family, at least forty acres
here as cheaply as anywhere on earth, in crop, and a young orohard growing.
Thousands of acres last-year produced ' For one commcnoiDg with next to Doth
their hundred bushels of shelled grain ing I estimate this aa the work of five
per acre, at' a very moderato cost for la- yearsr after-wbich, he might-take things
bor and none at all for manure. An es- more easily, awaiting the fruit from his
mu cji .iojuniii4;i.uiajici uuau-
cl of eara, equal to nine cents per bushel
, of grain three half bushels of ears of the
! great Ohio kind here cultivated making
' a bushel of grain. Of course, this esti
mate excludes the cost of land, breaking
. and fencing; but, making a fair allow
; ance fer these, the net cost of that Corn
cannot havo exceeded twenty cents per
bushel. I presume- it would now sell in
his crib for forty cents, whilo here in the
interior it is worth from 25 to 35 cents
per bushel.
I met at Osawatamie an oltf Whig and
! now Republican friend who left New York
City (where he had been an industrious
j mechanic) and settled between Lawrence
nd Topeka two years ago
He had last
: year eighty acres in corn, which yielded
4,000 bushels, worth to him 35 or 40
1 cents per bushel. His clear proGt on this
: corn, above the immediate cost of growing
i it, can hardly have been less than SI ,000.
lie will grow more this year, with Wheat,
Potatoes, &c ; yet he is one of a class who
i are popularly supposed incapable of ma
king money by farming. Isu.-pect a few
life-Ions farmers of similar mount will
have good buildings over their heads and
fruit trees and other elements of material
i comfort around them sooner than my
friend
! Wheat and Oats did badly last year,
lowing to the heavy Summer rains which
, blighted and rusted tbem. Too little of
either have been sown for this year's har
vet, yet I find both Winter and Spring
Wheat looking remarkably well almost
everywhere. Oats are scarcely more than
K . J , Jl r
up) sn far ns nan now hn nrpsenn.
But an unpleasant truth mut be sta
ted: There are too many idle, shiftless
! people in Kansas. I speak not here of
lawyers, gentlemen speculators and other
! non-producers, who arc in i-xcess here as
elsewhere; I allude dirt-ctly to those who
I call themselves settlers, and who would
j be farmers if they were anything. To
j see a man squatted on a quarter-section
: in a cabin which would make a fair hog
! pen, but is unfit for a human habitation,
and there living from hand to mouth by
... r . . , ,. . . . .
a muc oi mis ana a lime or tuat, witu
hardly au acre of prairie broken (noine
times without a ff nee up), with no garden,
no fruit trees, "no nothing" waiting for
some one to come along aud buy out bis
"claim'' and let him move on to repeat
the operation somewhere else this is o
noUi?h to give a cheerful man the horrors.
Ak tho squattt-r what he means and he
c-in give you a hundred good excuses for
fail miserable condition; he has no break
ing team; he has little or no good rail
timber; he has had "the shakes;" his fam
ily have been rick; he lot two years and
some stock by the Border riufnans; &c.
&c. But all this don't overbear the facts
that, if he has no good timber, some of
his neighbors have it in abundance, and
would be very glad to have him work
part of into rails on shares at a fair rate;
aud if he has no breaking team, he can
hire out in Living and harvest; and get
nearly or quite i acres broken next mouth
for every faith ful week's work he choos
es to give at l hat busy season. The poorest,
man ought thus to be able to get ten acres
broken and fenced and into crop, each
year. For poor men gradually hew farms
out of heavy timber, where every fenced
acre cort twice to thrice the work it does
here.
And it is sad to note that hardly half
the settlers make any sort of provision
for wintering their cattle,, even by cut
ting a stack of prairie hay, when every
good day's work will put up a tun of it.
If be has a cornfield, the squatter's cattle
are welcome to pick at that all Winter;
if he has none, they .must go into the bot
toms and browse through as best they
can. Of coursi, his calves are miierablc
affairs; his cos unfit to make butter from
till the best of the season is over; bid ox
en, should ho have a pair, aoui-t.be re-
' cruiling from their Winter's Famine just
wuen be most. urgently needs thoir work,
I And this exposing cattle all Winter to
these fierce prairio wind3 n alike inhu
man and wasteful. I asked a settler the
other day how he could do it. "I had no
time to make a shelter for them." "But
: llad Jou no Sundays? did you not have
them- at your disposal?" "O, yes! I
don't work Sun-jays." "Well, yoo should
have worked every one of them, rather
I than let Jour cattle sbiver io the c
! l,laet:J aU Winter it would have bee
cold
en a
f work of humanity and mercy to cut and
haul logs, get up a cattle-stall, and cover
it with prairie-hay, which I will warrant
to be more religious than anything you
did on those Sunday's. But the squatter
was of a different opinion.
How a. man located in a little squalid
cabin on one of these rich "claims" can
sleep moonlit nights under the average
circumstancesof his class, passes my com
prehension. I should want to work mod
erately but resolutely at least fourteen
hours of each secular day until I had
orchard and the coming up of his boys
to help him. But for the first four or five,
years, the poor pioneer should work eve-
ry hour that he does not absolutely need
for rest. Every hour's
work then will
save him many hours in after life.
Jior the tartucr who comes in with liD -
eral means, the task is of course much
easier. Let us suppose one to be worth
85,000 the day he lauds on the Kansas
shore of tho Missouri, aud see how quick
ly he can make a farm and, a home. He
arrives, we will say, in August, when he
can see just what the country produces,
whether in a state of nature or under cul-
tivation. Ho buys a quarter section . and "Rock Creek, seventeen mile3 east, ! pickled oysters and two or three boxes of
(which is land enough for any man) in awere uoth impassable on Thursday, so. sardine?, but nothing of the bread kind
choice locality, including thirty or forty that an express wagon from Pike's Peak ! whatever. The man probably understood
acres of timbered river or creek bottom,' wa3 stopped behind the former, while fiveuis business better than we did, and had
say for $10 per aore, charges 1,000 of mail eoachos and express wagons faced ! declined to dissipate his evidently moder
tho 81,000 thus called for to the account eaon 0i,er through part of Thursday and ate capital by iuvesting any part of it in
of the Pro-Slavery Democracy for de- all of Thursday night, across tho latter.; "tides not of prime necessity. Our
feating the Free Land bill, and sets to Next morning, however, each had run out wants being peculiar, we could not trade
work, with two good hired men. He sc? they ooulof bo forded, and at 1, p. m., j wtb UIU,i ut after an interchange of
buys five yoke of oxen for a breaking team,' I took my seat in the Pike's Peak express' courtesies, passed on.
a span of good wagon horses, a cow in and aain moved westward. 'V!0 niiles further wo crossed, by a
fresh milk, and three heifers which will Our W3y. was. still. alono- the U. S. Mil- acl and difficult ford, "Chapman's Creek,'
be cows next Spring, puts up a cabin that itary Boad, crossing Wildcat, now a rcas- runuing south to the Smoky Hill, border
will just do, aud is ready to commonoe 0nablo stream, and winding for soraeled y a thin streak of timber, and me
breaking by tho 1st of September. Asjmiles over rugged, thin-soiled limestone J andering through a liberal valley of glori
bis men break, he follows with tho horses hills, then striking down south-westward 0U9ly r'ch prairie. Here we passed the
sowing and harrowing in wheat so long!jnt0the prairio bottom of tho Kansas, I lflst settler on our road to Pike's Peak,
as that will answer, but does not stop ! which is as rich as land need be. A fowle Das been here two or three years, has
breaking till tho ground is frozen. Now J miles of this brought U3 to Ogden, a ' seventy-five acres fenced and broken,
ho begins to out and draw timber for a fit- land-office city of thirty or forty houses, igrew 000 bushels of corn last year, has
ter habitation to which to welcome his Lamp nf thpm wll Tinili- nf jrnnR .Tnki a fine stock of Horses and cattle around
family in the Spring. Having done this
ho gets good mechanics to finish it, while
ho and his men go to work at fencing by
cuttiug sawlogs for light, narrow boards,
if there be a sawmill convenient; if not,
then by cutting for and splitting rails.
So soon as the dryest land will answer
for it, he begins to put in Spring Wheat;
then Oats; then Corn; tind putting up
fence whenever the "soil is too wet for
plowing; let him'not forget to have a few
acres seasonably .set in fruit trees, some
of them dwarfs, for early bearing. Thus
his money will not have been exhausted
by the ensuing Fall, when he will have
crops coming in and more than a hun
dred acres of his land broken and sub
dued for future cultivation. I see no rea-
son, why a resolute, good manager should ;
not be comtortable alter his year or two,
and thenceforth take the world as easily
as need bo. He who comes in with but j
$2,000, $1,000, or S500 must of course!
be much longer in working his way to a
position of comfort and independence;
but if he will work right ahead, wasting
neither days nor dollars, and keeping
clear of speculation and office-seeking, he
can hardly fail to succeed.
As to the infernal spirit of Land Spec
ulation and monopoly, I think no State
ever suffered from it more severely than
this. The speculators in broadcloth are
uot one whit more rapacious or pernicious
than the speculators in rags, while the
latter are forty times the more numerous.
Land speculation here is about the only
business in which a man can embark with
no other capital than an easy conscience.
For example: I rode up tho bluffs back
of At?hinson, and out three or four miles
on the high rolling prairie, so as to have
some fifteen to twenty square miles in
view at one glance. On all this inviting
area hero were perhaps half a dozen poor
or middling habitations, while not one a
crc in each one hundred was fenced or
brokon. My. friend informed me that ev
ery rood I saw was "pre-empted," and
held at thirty up to a hundred dollars or
more per acre. "Pre-empted 1" I ex
claimed; "how pre-empted I by living or
lying?" "Well," he responded, "they
live a littlo "and lio a little." I could
see abundant evidence of the lying, none
at all of the living. To obtain a pre
emption, the squatter must swear that he
actually resides on the quarter section he
applies for, has built a habitation and made
other improvements there, and wants the
land for his own use and that of his fam
ily. The squatters who took possession
of these lands must every one have com
mitted gross perjury in obtaining pre
emption and so it is all over tho Terri
tory, wherever a lot is supposed likely to
sell for more than the mininiunrprice. -I
heard of ono case in which a Bquatter
carried a martin-box on to a quarter sec
tion, and, on tho srength of :that martin
box, swore that ho had a house there
"eighteen by twenty" he left tho officer
to presume tho feet. So it was all over:
the wretched little slab shanty which has
sufficed to swear by on one "claim," is
now moved off and serves to swear by,
on anotherwben the firstswearing is done.
I am confident there is not at this hour
any kind of a house or other sign of im
provement on one fourth of the quarter
sections throughout Kansas which have
been secured by pre-emption. Tho squat
ter who thus establishes a "claim" sells
it out so soon as practicable to some spec
ulator, who follows in his wako, getting
from 50 to $300 for that which the fu
ture bona fido settlers will be required to
pay $250 to SI, 500 for. Such, in prac
tical operation, tho system designed
and ostensibly calculated to shield the
poor aud industrious settlers from rapa
city and extortion, but which, in fact op
erates to oppress and extort from the
real settler to pay a premium on per
jury to fo3ter and extend speculation
to demoralize the people, paralyze mdus
ize tue peopie, paraiyzo maus- m,0 or two of progress earned us beyond
poverish tho country. any road but that traced only this spring
ficrcc, ehilly'gale has blown a-lfor the Piko's Peak expresses, and ten
rnnnar nf Insr.nifrbf tbA-ftlniiailnc nnward. no house: no field, no sn?n
try and impoverish the country.
But the fierce, chill y'eale has
ov tlirt tpmncat of last niffht the eloiuls
fly scattered and brassy it is time to'of human agenoy, this road and a few have worn wido and devious water oour
look for the Leavenworth Ex prcasrwbero-United States survcyora' stakes excepted, se, but they are neither deep enough
of two stages west from this point will
bear me beyond the bounds of settlement
and civilized life. Adieu to friendly
greetings and speakiDg I Adieu lor a
time to pen and paper I Auie to bed-
rooms and wash-bowls ! Adieu (let me
;.hope; to cold rams and flooded rivers!
Hurrah for Pike's Peak 1
VI.
Station 9, Pike's Peak Express Co
Pipe Creek, May 28, 1850.
I was detained at Manhattan nearly a
day longer than I had intended to be bv
bieh water. Wildcat, five miles west.'canters two glasses, three or four cans of
some of them well built of stone. Jut
beyond this begins the Fort Riley reser
vation, a beautiful tract of prairie and
timber, stretching for four or five miles
along tho northern bank of the Kansas,
and including tho sad remains of Pawnee
City, at which Gov. Reeder summoned
the first (bogus) Legislature of Kansas
to meet then 50 to 100 miles westward
of anywhere. They obeyed the summons,
but forthwith adjourned to Shawnee Mis
sion, a Pro-Slavery stronghold on the
Missouri border. Pawnee city 19 now of
the things that were.
Fort Riley is a position which does
credit to the taste of whoever selected it.
It is on high, rolling prairie, with the
Kansas on the south, the Republican on
the west, heavy limestono bluffs on tho
north, and the bost timber in middle or
western Kansas all around. The bar
racks are comfortable, the hospital large
and well placed, the officers' quarters spa
cious and elegaut, and the stables exten
sive and admirable. I hear tbat two
millions of Uncle Sam's money have been
expended in making these snug arrange
ments, and that the oats largely consumed
here have cost $3 per bushel. I have of
course seen nothing else at all compara
ble to this in the way of preparations for
passing life agreeably, since I left Mis
souri. We bero crossed by a rope ferry the
Republican or northern fork of the Kan
sas, which, like the Big Blue, twenty-five
miles back, seems nearly as large as the
Kansas at its mouth, though the Smoky
Hill, or southern fork at this poiut is
said to be the largrst of the three. We
met at the ferry a number of families,
with a large herd of cattle, migrating
from south-western Missouri to Califor
nia, and crossing here to take the road up
the right bank of the Republican to Fort
Kearney and so to Laramie. They bad
exhausted their patience in trying to
swim their oattle, und would hardly be
able to get them all ferried over till next
day. All day, as on preceding days,
we had been meeting ox-wagons loaded
with disheartened Pike's Peakers, return
ing to their homes, but somo of them go
ing down into southern Kansas in search
of "claims." Most of those we interro
gated said they had been out as far as
Fort Kearney (some 200 miles further, I
believe,) before they wore turned back by
assurances that Pike's Peak is a hum
bug.
Across the Republican, between it and
the Smoky Hill, is Junotion City, as yet
the most western village in Kansas, save
that another has been started some fifty
tnilos up tho Smoky Hill. We stopped
hero for the night, and I talked Repub
licanism in the church for an hour or so
Junction has a store, two 'hotels, - and
some thirty or forty- dwellings, one of
which is distinguished for its age, having
been erected so long ago as 185S. A pa
triqtic Juuctioner excused his o.ity for
not possessing something which I inq'uir-
'cd for, but which its rival, Manhattan,
was supposod to have; "for," said he,
"Manhattan is three years old." As
Junction is hardly a year old yet, the re
lative antiquity of Manhattan, and the
responsibilities therein involved were in
disputable Junction is tho center of a
fine agricutural region, though timber is
uot so abundant hero as I wish it was.
This region is being r,apidly shingled with
"claims." I hopo it is to be likewise
filled with settler? though that does not; stream, but in a dry timo might doubtless
always follow. Our landlord (a German) be run through a nino inch ring. It has
bad tried California; then Texas, and j considerable wood on its banks say a
now he is trying Kansas, whioh seems to, belt averaging ten rods width,
agreo with him. Twenty miles back the rock suddenly
We started again at G this morning,; changed entirely from tbe universal liroo
making a littlo north of west, and keep-i stone of Kansas east of Chapmau's Creek,
ing tho narrow belts of timbor along the to a decoying red sandstone the soil of
Republican ond the Smoky Hill respco-j course becomes sandy and much thinner;
lively in full view for several miles, until the grass is also less luxuriant, though in
the streams diverged so far that we lost 'some places still good. For acres, espe
tbem in the boundless sea of grass. A dially on the higher ridges, there is little
mile or two of progress enmed us beyond
miles onward, no house, no field, no sten
was visible. At length we came to where
a wretched cabin and an acre or so of
, broken and fenced prairie showed what a
pioneer had been doing in the last two or
three years, and beside it was a tavern
tho last. I nmsnmn. shin nf PIl-V
reak. It consisted .of a crotehed stake.
which, with the squatter's fence aforesaid,
supportod a ridge-pole, across which some
old sail cloth was drawn, hanging down
on either side, and forming a cabin some
six by eight feet, and perhaps from three
to five and a half feet high large enough
to contain two whiskey barrels, two de-
him, with at least eight tow beaded chil
dren under ten years old. His house
judged superficial!', would be dear at
fifty dollars, but I think he neither needs
nor wishes to be pittied.
Our road bore hence north of west, ,
up the left bank of Chapman a Creek, on
which, 23 miles from Junotion, we baited
at "Station 8." at 11, a. m., to change '
mules and dine. This station should be
' '
five miles further on, and three or four
miles further. south, but cannot be, for
want of wood and water. There is, of
course, no house here, but two small tents
and a brush arbor furnish accommoda
tions for from six to fifteen persons, as
the case may be. A score of mules are
picketed about on the rich grass; there is
a rail pen for the two cows. Of our ,
landlady's two sun-browned children,
(girls of ten and six respectively) ono was
born in Missouri, the other at Laramie,
I was told that their father was killed by 1
Indians, and that the station keeper is '
ber second husband. She gave us an
excellont dinner of bacon andgreens,good
bread, applesauce and pie, and would
have given us butter bad we passed a few
days later; but her cows had been over- ;
driven, and needed a few days quiet and
generous feeding. The water was too
muddy tho predjudices of education
would not permit me to drink it the
spring being submerged by tho high wa
ter of the high brook, wbieh was the on
ly remaining resource. She apologized
for making us eat in her narrow tent
rather than under her brush arbor, say
ing that the last time she set the table
there, the high prairie wind made a clean
sweep of table-cloth and all upon.'it,
breaking several of her not very abund
ant dishes. I have rarely made a better
dinner, though the violent rain of the seo
ond previous night nigh drowning out
the whole concern.
--We
were
in the wagon again a few
minutes before noon (tho bouis kept on
the plains are good), for we had 35 miles
yet to make to-day, which, with a mule
team, requires a long afternoon. True,
the roads are harder here, loss cut up
and less muddy than in eastern Kansas;
but few men think how much up and down
is saved them in traveling over a civilized
region by bridges and causeways over
water-courses. We still bept north of
west for several miles, so as to cling to
tbe high divide between Chapman's Creek
and Solomon's Fork, rauother tributary
of the Smoky Hill), so far as possible.
Soon we saw our fir,-t antelope, and, in
tho course of the afternoon, five others,
but not ono of them seemed to place a
proper estimate on tho value of our so
ciety. Two of them started up so near
U3 as to bo for a moment within possible
riflc-sbot; but they widened tho gap be
tween us directly. Wc crossed many
old buffalo trails and buffalo heads near
ly reduced to a skcloton, but no signs
that buffalo have been bo far cast this
season. Two or three of the water
courses we crossed had hero and there
a cottonwood or a stunted elm on
its banks, but the general dearth of tim
ber is fearful, aud in a dry season there
can bo little or no water on this long 35
miles. But it must be considered that
our routo avoids the streams, and of
course tho timber to the utmost. The
oreek on whioh wo aro encamped (a
branch of Solomon's) is now a fair mill
or no soil, rock in place o? nijgnuy ais-
or no sou, took in piacu uc-nijguwj v
tuructl nearly covering tho surfacs
Through all this region tho furious n
' rushiDc off in torrents without obstruct
auriace.
rains
rushing
torrents without obstruction,
nor permanently wet enough to shelter"
timber. I reckon "claims'' will not kd'
greedily hunted nor bong n't at exorbitnat
pricos hereabouts for some years to cose."
Our hostess for the night has twtf
small tents, as at No. 8, and gave us a'
capital supper, butter included, but bhV
and her two children alike testify that in
one of tho drenching thunder stormn, bo'
frequent of late, tbey might nearly as'
well be out on the prairie; and tbat sleep
ing under such a visitation, is an art on
ly to be acquired by degrees. They
have a log cabin going up, I am happy
to say. Their tents were first located ott
the narrow bottom of the creek, but af
rapidly rising flood compelled them,
few nights since, to scramble out aridf
move them to a higher shelf of prairie.
It would have been pitiful to have been
turned out so, only the shelter they bad
been enjoying was good for nothing.
I believe I have now descended the
ladder of artificial life nearly to its low
est round. If the Cheyennes thirty of
whom stopped the last express down on
tho route we must traverse, and tried to
beg or steal from it should see fit to cap
ture aud strip us, we should of course
have further experience in the same lice;
but, for the present, the present the pro-
gress I have made during the last fort
night toward the primitive simplicity of
human existenoe may be roughly noted
thus:
May 12th Chicago. Chocolate ancf
morning newspapers last seen on the?
breakfast table.
23d Leavenworth. Room bell's and
baths make their last appearance.'
24th Topeka. Beefsteak and wasby
bowls (other than tin) last visable.
Baf-
ber ditto.
25th Manhattan. Potatoes and eggff
last recoenized amons the blesines thaC
w t? C3
"brighten as tbey take their flight."-
Chairs ditto.
27th Junction City. Last visitation"
of a bootblack, with dissolving views of af
board bed-room. Chairs bid ns trootr-
bj.
28th Pipe Creek. Benches for seats'
at meals have disappeared, giving place
to bags and boxes. We (two passengers
of a scribbling turn) write oar letters in
the express wagon which has borne us by
day and must supply us lodgings for the?
night. Thunder and lightning from both1
south and west give strong promise of a
shower before morning. Dubious Io'ofca
at several hotels in the canvasr covering
of the wagon. Our trust is in' buoyant
hearts and an India-ruber blankets.
Good night.
Horace Greele?,
Greeley on a &ailroack
The Buffalo Courier in an article alia-
ding
to Greeley on a Rail, request its
readers to imagine tho philosopher in ar
night car, occupying a section in co'mp'a
nay with a nervous invalid a timid" old
', gentleman who dreads the tfrnd of heaven
; as a sensitive plant. The "night in cbilf
j and damp," for The rain is pouring.-
, "Conductor," exclaims Mr. Greeley, ,rc
pen that ventilator or I shall die." Thef
conductor promptly obeys. The current
! of water-laden air rushes in penetrating
I to the very marrow of the sick man. Ho
bears it for a few moments, shivering and
ehakinff like a man racked by acne.
. "Conductor " at last he squeaks ont.
"shut that ventilator or I nhall die."
' Conductor stands at nonplus. Presently
! a third party calls out in a gruff voice
"Conductor, open tho window, and kill
one of them fellers, and then shut it and
finish off 'tother ."
Tire' Dear Girls.
Miss Annie B. Herring of Baltimore,
has sued James Baughen, for breach oi
R 'Wq ,pf,OPa. . ' 1A ..,
t tt ... . .. B
rootypc, with thi3 affecting comment
"The daguerreotype has but one defecft
in it, caused by a ter coming into my eye
from thinking of you.
"We are of the opinion that Mr. B. will
' shed rather more than 6n& tear, in future.
when he thinks of her and those 83,500.
In another letter, ho "wished soon to bar
able to clasp her in hia arms, never to
separate, until death, with its relentleaa
grasp, shall lay thorn in the narrow tomb."
Tho only grasping to be done new, how
ever, will bo by tho Sheriff, in caae .he
don't pay that S3.500.
Tho Albany Statesman says they
thieve by wholesale at Syracuse. First'
a canal boat is stolen then a two story'
frame house now a flock of sheep
missing, and la.t Sunday a Sabbath
School was taken 1 Somo yeurs ago the
Salt Pointers threatened to steal -the
State Capitol. It looks as tbougk they
were practicing for that exploit.
XHx'Tbere aro four million scholars
and one hundred and fifty tboBeaYd' Teach-1
ers in tbe public schools of itbis'country.
There is one scholar to efery five fre
persons. In Great Britain there 'iaoa
scholar to every eight persons is Fra3Mi
one to every ten persons.
i
There is a necro in Philadelphia wFo
is distinguished for the size of bia'fceiiM
They measure 21 inches in leDgth. "?
In Schuylkill County, Pa., there. ar
four hundred and twenty eteau esgnrw.
employedrin raising eoal, draiaisg iij.
manufacturing, and other purpose.